Viscous liquid was solid black. No smell and not sticky when held. This fluid that heats the boiler some tofu factory in Bandung, West Java.
The plant had been left out of kerosene or diesel fuel to heat the engine. Instead, they use a mixture of liquids derived from coal and coal water fuel or water. The nature of this material is made very similar to heavy oil or marine fuel oil (MFO) thick.
Research and Development Center for Mineral and Coal Technology, Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources of the Republic of Indonesia to develop a new fuel caloric value ranging from 3,500 to 4,000 per gram.
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| Factory Aquabat in Palimanan, West Java |
In Palimanan, West Java, they make equipment that every day produces 4 tons of black liquid. "We named this product Aquabat, compound word aqua which means water and bat or coal," said Datin Fatia Umar, principal investigator for the research center.
Aquabat born of trial Datin for a dozen years in the lab office. In the beginning he has a target mix of coal and water in order to become a new, more fuel efficient and environmentally friendly.
Women born in Bandung 58 years ago this natural knock that specific gravity of coal is greater than the water makes it settles quickly after mixing. Hence, it needs a third substance that serves to unite these two materials are hostile. "Need to incorporate additives".
Secret ingredients additives Datin findings were developed from organic materials are capable of trapping two hostile materials by applying the principle of surface tension reduction. The same principle is also applied to the detergent, because the additive is able to attract small-sized stain attached to the clothing.
Raw materials using bituminous coal that has a low water content. However, some low-calorie coal can also be used by first taking the process of upgrading. This is a process of heating the coal at a temperature of 150 degrees Celsius and 3.5 atmospheric pressure.
Before united with water, crushed coal is first up to size 75 micrometers. After that, powdered coal is mixed with water and additives, and stir until evenly distributed.
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| The process of making Aquabat |
The final product of this process is a coal water fuel. The nature of this material is made very similar to heavy oil (MFO) thick.
Heavy oil has been widely used as boiler fuel. Boiler engine itself is used in various industries, began to mill out, pharmaceutical, pulp, textiles, power generation up to large sizes.
To be on fire, Aquabat sprayed into the combustion chamber is first heated to a temperature of 600 degrees Celsius using a chunk of coal, kerosene, or electric energy.
Spraying make the fuel is fragmented into small grains. Water and additives that are exposed to heat evaporates instantly leaving pieces of coal, which is then burned and heats the boiler.
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| Combustion of Aquabat in a steam boiler (Picture from http://en.wikipedia.org/) |
Combustion of coal produces waste products in the form of ash is relatively cleaner than the soot produced heavy oil. Another waste product is water vapor that escapes from tiny grains of Aquabat. The second property is a non-toxic waste makes Aquabat categorized as environmentally friendly fuels.
Almost all engine boiler can use this fuel. Surely the owners must do some modifications to the engine by replacing oil-burning fuel into the burner Aquabat. Modification should also be done by adding ash residue disposal containers.
According to Datin, a doctoral graduate of Kobe University, fees are not expensive engine modifications that can be closed in no time. In a pilot project to know the small-scale factories in Bandung, it takes only 35-45 days for modification costs would be recouped sales profits.
Meanwhile, in the engine boiler is used as a large-scale generation takes one or two years so the cost of modifications could come back with a time of mounting for four months.
Not only environmentally friendly, Aquabat is cheap. The fuel is sold at Rp. 1,500 per liter. This is cheaper than fuel prices its competitors, namely heavy oil, Rp. 3,800 per liter.
The high economic value, this could have an effect on the cost of energy consumption nationwide. During these industries in Jakarta and surrounding cities as well as Lampung spend money Rp. 8.575 trillion per year to buy heavy oil.
If the use of fuel transferred to Aquabat, cost of fuel becoming Rp. 7.350 trillion or there is a savings of Rp. 1.255 trillion per year. "If the transfer of fuel carried in the crumbling parts of Indonesia, the savings could reach Rp. 2 trillion," said Datin. *** [ANTON WILLIAM | KORAN TEMPO 3640]
